Global Methodist Church Releases Petitions to be Considered at Convening General Conference
One important aspect of the convening General Conference of the Global Methodist Church is action on legislative petitions filed for consideration by the delegates. At the convening General Conference in San Jose, Costa Rica from September 20-26, the delegates will address 204 petitions.
“My commitment in administering the entire petition process has been to ensure complete transparency,” said the Reverend Lamar Oliver, Petitions Secretary for the convening General Conference. Oliver has been responsible for shepherding a total of 252 proposed petitions through a process outlined in the Transitional Book of Doctrines and Discipline and the Plan of Organization and Covenant for Our Life Together. Oliver has prepared a Pre-Conference Petitions Update which provides additional information about the petition process and access in English to all petitions submitted for consideration at the convening General Conference.
“We are overjoyed to share this update with the GM Church community as part of our commitment to transparency and accountability,” said Oliver. “Our hope and prayer is that people will find this information useful as they prepare for the Conference.”
The update provides a list of petitions assigned to each legislative committee. By clicking on a petition, you can view the proposed legislation. The update also includes a schedule of petitions listed numerically and a copy of each of the petitions submitted in English.
Comprehensive Petition Overview
A total of 252 petitions were submitted for consideration. Each of these petitions were initially evaluated by Oliver. His recommendations for each petition were then reviewed by a five-member Petitions Committee. The Petitions Committee was composed of the following persons:
- Rev. Tom Lambrecht, Chair | Trinity Conference
- Rev. John Pena Auta | Nigeria
- Elizabeth Chryst | Florida
- Norma Morrison | Upper Midwest
- Mike Womack | Great Lakes
At the conclusion of this review process, the Committee determined:
- 204 Petitions Approved for Consideration: These petitions met the necessary criteria and will be acted upon by the convening General Conference.
- 40 Petitions Outside the Limited Agenda: While these petitions were properly submitted, they fall outside the limited agenda established for the convening General Conference. They will be deferred to the next General Conference in 2026.
- 8 Petitions Not Accepted: These submissions did not meet the required standards.
Assignment of Petitions to Legislative Committees
The Petitions Committee has referred each petition approved for consideration to appropriate legislative committees of the convening General Conference. The petitions are distributed among the committees as follows:
- Episcopacy & Superintendency: 49 petitions
- Constitution: 36 petitions
- Ministry & Local Church: 36 petitions
- Connectional Organization: 27 petitions
- Judicial Administration: 26 petitions
- Conferences: 23 petitions
- Finance & Administration: 6 petitions
- Plenary Session (TBDD & JPP): 1 petition
Translation
Given our global nature, with six official languages, all petitions are being translated into French, Swahili, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. The translation process is time-consuming and release of the petitions in these languages will occur as soon as translation has been completed.
Looking Forward
All of the delegates and alternates to the convening General Conference have now been elected. The Transitional Leadership Council will soon announce the assignment of delegates to legislative committees. Shortly thereafter the legislative committees will organize for their work by electing their officers. The legislative committees meet during the first several days of the Conference taking action on each petition accepted for consideration. The work product of the legislative committees is then reported to plenary sessions of the Conference for final action.